Cicerone, on US airlines ff programs, it takes as many miles to get to Hong Kong as it does to get to Bangkok.

Hey filmwill
You can add a nice chunk of UA miles to your ff acct if you fly out to HNL for the GTG in September!

good point carol....

and aslo come to boston in oct...

Hahaha...I'm supposed to be SAVING money here, not spending, remember? LOL! :)

You guys are too sweet.

I'll think about both--although Hawaii might be more doable, as we talked about that being the 'substitute trip' this year...although, as we all know, there's really NO substitute for Thailand.

Hello, my name is filmwill...and I'm an Asia-holic.

money is to spend....haven't you learned anything in tinseltown??

Yeah, my name is Kathie and I'm an Asia-holic.

But I don't have any interest in "recovering" from my addiction. I choose, instead, to feed it.

I admit that I am powerless over Asia, and that only a power greater than myself can restore me to sanity :)

After 12 years of interpreting all those meetings, I finally found out what I am addicted to! But I am not ready for any kind of treatment yet, I am still in active addiction!

Kathie, I read the OP's post as having a problem getting to Bangkok on a decent routing, they were having to go via a Delta partner through Seoul with a 14 hour layover. My suggestion of Hong Kong was to hopefully go non-stop or via a short US layover and then either stay in Hong Kong for a few days or go directly onto Bangkok from there on a discount airline.

Hi Filmwill

Sorry to post for something unrelated, but I've been trying to reach you and am hoping this might work. I read your fabulous blog regarding your last travel to Thailand and the cooking class you took in CM seemed really lovely. Could you provide the contact info for me? Also, we too are staying at the Baan Rai Lanna and I was curious -- did you find your own transportation to the resort or did you use their car hire? We're finding their car hire prices to be sort of expensive and I'm wanting to look into alternative ways to get there from the airport.

Many thanks in advance!
Mel

Hi Mel, thanks for the compliments! We did a private cooking class at Kao Hom on a whim last year and found it to be one of the most rewarding experiences of our entire trip.
We still stay in touch with Kanchana, the owner/teacher, who is one of the most kind-hearted and wonderful people I've ever met. You can contact them through their website at http://www.kaohom.com
Make sure that you ask to be taught by Kanchana, as there may be other teachers there now. Also, I highly recommend requesting a local market visit before your class (Kanchana picked us up at our hotel and we stopped at the market to tour and pick up some ingredients before heading to her school, which is on the outskirts of Chiang Mai.)
As for Baan Rai Lanna (aside from the fact that you'll fall in love with it!)...we had already hired Poon (who you may have heard mentioned readily on these boards) as our driver for the 4 days we were there. So, she was our main source of transportation back and forth. This worked for us mostly because she served as both a driver and makeshift guide for our entire stay up north.
I could see how using other transportation back and forth from BRL could get expensive, as it is a ways outside Chiang Mai proper (about a 30-40 minute drive)
A taxi ride might be a viable option (if you're planning on mostly staying there), but make sure you have directions (preferably in Thai) before you go that route, as the resort is a bit hard to find for most folks who've never been there. Poon will probably remember BRL for the rest of her life, as we had quite a time trying to locate it with her when she first brought us there.
Let me know if you need any more information--I'm happy to help out in any way I can. You can contact me at [email protected]
Good luck and safe travels!

If you didnt book yet...

When I did this trip, Singapore Air and Delta were partners (not sure if they still are)... I transfered all my AmEx Miles to Delta, then was able to be ticketed on Singapore Air, via Singapore to Bangkok. It was 26 hours but free business class...

The choice was 110,000 miles to go JFK via Amsterdam with an hour stopover for refueling - or Delta to SFO or LAX in first, wait 12 hours and fly to Singapore from there

Hi Billy

Thanks so much for your response -- I emailed you a few things. I can't believe it, but the lovely cooking school that you (and really, SO many others have raved about) is closed down!? I'm so bummed as I'm not sure where else to try to go. Yours sounded so perfect. The site is up and running, but in small print on the top it says it's closed indefinitely. I can't seem to get anyone to respond as to why it is or whether they have any info on it.

We are looking into Poon as well. Thanks again and maybe we'll be chatting soon.
Mel

Well I'm beyond please to report that our tickets are officially booked for December!

I took everyone's great advice on here and set my mind to making this happen come hell or high water (when I set my mind to something, there's no turning back!)

I was able to use the miles we already had on United, in addition to credit card signing bonuses, some gifted miles from a friend and a very minimal mileage purchase to make it happen.

Best part of all of this is, we're booked on Thai direct to BKK in Royal Silk Class!

Now, if any of you know me well, it's made David's eternal hope of 'you can't obsess about the trip yet' highly improbably now. I can't believe I managed to get these tickets with miles...nonethless in biz class!

I'm psyched! :) So happy to being going back to our favorite country again--and looking forward to what'll probably be our last venture to SEA for quite some time. Definitely have got to plan something fantastic now.

Looking forward to your help in the coming months...

FW-glad to hear you're booked. Remind David that your obsession pales in comparison to some on this forum. Anticipation is a wonderful part of trips to Asia. The planning detail enhances the anticipation.

Your obsession will only be made worse by us egging you on!

When you think you finally have it all down, someone will offer some new tid bit you never heard of, and then you'll be forced to re-consider every minute detail anew.

I understand that obsession well. I have taken my last 11 trips to asia in business class for free and nothing makes me more neurotic than worrying about booking the tickets and nothing makes me happier than getting them!

BTW-- the thai flight in business is FABULOUS! Wish I were flying it but next time I'm doing Japan Air.

gloria, I'm thrilled to be flying RS. I have no idea what to expect. Only other time I've flown other than coach internationally was on Virgin Upper Class in 2002. Obviously, that's truly being pampered, but this still seems pretty damn nice to me.

I hear lots of mixed things about Thai biz class--but I certainly don't take any of them to heart. I just consider myself lucky to be not in coach for the 17 hr journey!

What did you like best about flying Thai RS?

TTT--anyone else flown RS?

most of us fly steerage....that's back of the bus for you CA types....